home page   what's new?   email bobtrubs@indigogroup.co.uk to request updates (please mention Rutland Village by Village) or to offer new information   Rutland Village by Village only WWW Village by Village Ashwell Ayston Barleythorpe Barrow Barrowden Beaumont Chase Belmesthorpe Belton-in-Rutland Bisbrooke Braunston-in-Rutland Brooke Burley Caldecott Clipsham Cottesmore Edith Weston Egleton Empingham Essendine Exton Glaston Great Casterton Greetham Gunthorpe Hambleton Horn Ketton Langham Leighfield Little Casterton Lyddington Lyndon Manton Market Overton Martinsthorpe Morcott Normanton North Luffenham Oakham Pickworth Pilton Preston Ridlington Ryhall Seaton South Luffenham Stoke Dry Stretton Teigh Thistleton Thorpe by Water Tickencote Tinwell Tixover Uppingham Wardley Whissendine Whitwell Wing This site sponsored by   Heart of Albion

Barleythorpe Barleythorpe is located about a mile north-west of Oakham on the former main road to Melton Mowbray. Large-scale housing developments nearby mean that Barleythorpe, and its location 'inside' the ring road mean the once-distinct settlement has effectively become a suburb of Oakham. When place-names ain't what they seem to be No, it's not a daughter settlement ('thorpe') where barley was grown! The oldest reference to the settlement is about 1200 when it is called 'Throp justa Ocham'. Its name derives from a Norman landowner called John de Bolour (presumably from Bouleurs in the Īle-de-France). 'Barley' is just a corruption of 'Bolour'. Unsuprisingly Barleythorpe was in Oakham Soke. Recent archaeology The house-building projects between Barleythorpe and Oakham have revealed considerable evidence of earlier occupation in that 'gap'. In 2015 a complex set of Bronze Age funerary monuments were excavated. There was a pond barrow (rare in this area), a double ring ditch and a third barrow forming a triangle. These are associated with both inhumation and cremation burials. A triple ring ditch excavated some time ago is close by, making this one of the most complex Early Bronze Age cemetery areas known locally. A pit with Bronze Age pottery, some linear features and some flint were found late 2012 or early 2013. Substantial Anglo-Saxon structures, including pits, postholes (with fifth to ninth century pottery), sunken-featured buildings and a hall were revealed in 2012, close to Barleythorpe itself. Further Anglo-Saxon buildings were found nearby in 2022. In 2024 a post-built structure was excavated and another partially revealed. Many more postholes, a later ditch and a possible additional sunken-featured building were recorded. Further excavations were expected during 2025. source: The Fieldworker (various issues). Holy Well A one-time holy well at Barleythorpe is revealed by the field-name 'Hollywell Slades', according to a record of 1665. 'Slade' refers to a valley or other open space between banks or woods. The location is not known. Barleythorpe Hall Barleythorpe Hall was a home of Lord Lonsdale until 1926. After being sold by Lord Lonsdale to Lawrence Kimball, the proprety burned down in 1934. It was rebuilt in a more modern style and this became an elderly person's home from 1970 until 2006. It was sold to Hazelton Homes who, in 2018, transformed the building into luxury apartments. Lord Lonsdale built a gasworks at Barleythorpe Hall which had a large gasholder fed by five retorts. Curiously the gas was used to run a generator to provide electricty for lighting. This ceased in 1928. I suspect the generator was a later innovation and the plant was originally installed to enable gaslighting. More about the lost walled kitchen garden. Back to top of this page     Back to home page   This website does not gather or store any visitor information. Copyright Bob Trubshaw 2026 No unauthorised copying or reproduction except if all following conditions apply a: Copy is complete (including this copyright statement). b: No changes are made. c: No charge is made. www.hoap.co.uk/rutland

Rutland's history home page what's new? glossary bibliography Rutland's geology Rutland's boundaries Rutland's rivers long, long ago prehistoric Rutland Roman Rutland long ago Anglo-Saxon Rutland Rutland's place-names waterborne transport around the sixth century Rutland's early churches Anglo-Saxon sculpture in Rutland The Matter of Rutland what the Normans did for Rutland Romanesque sculpture in Rutland Rutland's royal forests Rutland in medieval times Rutland's scratch dials Rutland's medieval carvings Rutland's sepulchral effigies Rutland's saltways Rutland in Tudor times Dissolution in Rutland not that long ago Rutland in the 17th century pinfolds and pounds in Rutland dovecotes in Rutland Rutland in the 18th century turnpiking Rutland Rutland's springs and wells changes in Rutland's agriculture since 1800 seems like yesterday Rutland's dialect Rutland's folk customs travellers in Rutland watermills and windmills in Rutland breweries in Rutland gasworks in Rutland ironstone quarrying in Rutland Zeppelins over Rutland redundant telephone exchanges in Rutland Second World War in Rutland WWII airfields and pillboxes in Rutland the making of Rutland Water Rutland Weekend Television free online history resources Victoria County History: Rutland volume one Victoria County History: Rutland volume two free PDFs of Rutland Record issues 1 to 50 old OS maps Historic England Listed buildings database Sepulchral Effigies of Leicestershire and Rutland Open Domesday English Place-Name Society database Wikipedia list of places in Rutland (with links to village entries) Wikipedia list of people from Rutland researching and writing local history getting started free advice from 2005 asking curious questions (YouTube video) local history groups in and around Rutland Belton-in-Rutland History Society Cottesmore History and Archaeology Group Langham Village History Group Lyddington Manor History Society Rutland Local History and Record Society with free PDFs of over forty issues of the Rutland Record Uppingham Local History Study Group you may also be interested in free PDFs written by Bob Trubshaw Earliest Churches in Nottinghamshire How Anglo-Saxons Found Their Way Anglo-Saxon Leicestershire Conversations in Churchyards Little-known Leicestershire and Rutland Bob Trubshaw's YouTube channel Introduction to medieval carvings Anglo-Saxon and Romanesque carvings How Anglo-Saxons found their way Anglo-Saxon shrines at fords Meetings at triangles Rota's Land and Franni's Land Reading Romanesque fonts Church and manor The significances of square headdresses Early churches and waterborne trade Charnwood slate gravestones and C18th trade routes Ironstone quarries of Leicestershire Roman roads in north-east Leicestershire Salt ways in Leicestershire Why Melton Mowbray needed to called 'middle town' Evolving Anglo-Saxon agriculture Nottinghamshire's earliest churches Ploughs not piety? Economic regeneration in the C7th Were Anglo-Saxon weaving huts women-only places? Vale of Belvoir Chronicle Barrowby Until Now website